Despite PPV success, Affliction's Tom Atencio says changes are coming

http://mmajunkie.comAfter a star-studded debut event with pay-per-view success and stunning salary figures that drew much attention, Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio admits changes must be made to future shows.

“I’m going to make some adjustments in the next fight, and we’ll take it from there,” Atencio today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If we want this to be a viable business, we have to make some changes.”

Earlier this week, the California State Athletic Commission released official salaries for “Affliction: Banned,” which included a hefty $3.3 million payroll, as well as an official attendance figure of 14,832 (11,242 paid).

While the organization probably suffered losses with its debut event, which took place this past Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., Atencio said the risk was calculated.

“We needed to come out of the gates guns-a-blazing, and that’s what we did,” Atencio said. “We made a splash. We did something that nobody else has been able to do, and that’s come out in our first show and make ourselves noticed. We did that.”

Although Atencio refused to divulge the official results, another apparent Affliction mark that other organizations have been unable to reach was the 100,000-pay-per-vew-buys barrier.

“I never really give numbers, and I’m not going to give numbers,” Atencio said. “I know the UFC doesn’t. But we did well over 100,000 (pay-per-view buys). I know a lot of people were expecting us to do only about [50,000] or maybe tops 75,000. So I know that we exceeded everybody’s expectations, and I’m real happy with the numbers.”

Prior to “Banned,” many industry insiders openly questioned Atencio and Affliction’s commitment to financial viability in the MMA market. But after a debut event that — at the very least — has many now discussing Affliction as a possible, legitimate future competitor to the UFC, Atencio is committed to positioning the fight promotion as a long-term success.

“I think we were way more than fair (with fighter salaries), and I think that in the next fight, we’ll take it from there,” Atencio said. “We’ll figure things out.”

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